How Modi changed and (changed and changed) his talk from Nov 8th to Dec 8th: India Spend

The big bang announcement on 8th Nov by PM Modi was all about black money, fake currency, terrorist funding etc. His speech on 8th November did not mention “cashless economy” even once. But one month down the line the story changed and changed very much. Now with almost 12 lac crores out of 15 lac crores of demonetised notes already back in banks, and as it becomes loud and clear that the black money story has failed and failed miserably, the new story is about cashless economy.

In its article on the changing story telling by the centre, India spend tracks how Modi changed the narrative during the last 30 days. ( You can read the report HERE)

India Spend reports

The saffron line representing the “cashless/digital” phrase in the Prime Minister’s speeches went from 0 in the November 8 speech to a 73% ratio in the November 27 speech.

The green line representing the phrase “fake currency” went from 22% to 0 in the same period suggesting the Prime Minister no longer believes that terror financing was the primary or secondary driver of this demonetisation exercise.

The black line representing the phrase “black money” went from a high of a 80% ratio on November 8 to only 27% on November 27. Apparently, it is no longer a “war on black money” but instead a “war on all currency” to go cashless.

Source: India Spend

So, between November 8 and November 27, the objective for the demonetisation exercise has swung from black money elimination to going cashless, as evident in the Prime Minister’s speeches.